Russell presented with shocking 'conspiracy theory' amid Horner's Red Bull departure

20:39, 24 Jul

byHidde Korte

Thursday is traditionally media day in Formula 1, where after all the events and rumours surrounding Red Bull and Max Verstappen in recent weeks, this was the main topic of discussion. George Russell also touched on the future of Verstappen and his own future at Mercedes.

Talking to Sky Sports, Russell was confronted with the rumours he started at Silverstone by saying that Mercedes was in talks with Verstappen. This would put a lot of pressure on Red Bull and a few days later Horner was dismissed. "That's hell of a conspiracy," Russell laughed. Toto Wolff recently stated that he wanted to continue with Russell and Antonelli.

Talking to GPblog among others, he said about him previously mentioning that Mercedes is in talks with Mercedes: "Well, first of all, I thought it was pretty public knowledge and common knowledge that the fact is most teams are talking with most drivers, to worry about their future."

"It's not just the short-term future of next year. There's conversations already going on for drivers of, you know, ‘27, ‘28, ‘29, people who have always loved many years in advance. And, when I was at Williams, when I signed in 2019, 2022 was always the projection for me to join the team, if that makes sense. So the situation we find ourselves in now is, I don't think it's abnormal."

What will the future of Verstappen and Russell look like?

Verstappen admits to thinking about future at Red Bull

Max Verstappen was also asked about his future at Red Bull Racing. The Dutchman admitted that he was thinking about his future at Red Bull. He also added that Horner's departure will not make a difference to his future decisions.